Destroyer of Olympus
by deathnoteuser07
Summary: The war with Gaea is over, the gods have won again, but victory came at a terrible price. Percy is scarred with the memories of his quest and Tartarus, and his situation gets worse when his father reveals a shocking secret. But Percy sees some improvement after somebody shows him a new plan, and Percy goes with it. The plan? to take down Olympus.
1. Chapter 1: A Broken Hero

**(Author's Note: I'm going to stop updating **_**The House of Hades**_** because the actual **_**House of Hades **_**book has been released, and let's face it, Rick Riordan's version is obviously better than mine, and people are more willing to read his version, so even if I continue updating there is no audience for me. I am of course, sad about not being about to continue with **_**House of Hades, **_**because I was coming up with some pretty great ideas, but fear not, some of my story ideas that was going to be put in the **_**House of Hades**_** is going to be included in this story, which takes place after my version of the **_**House of Hades.**_

**In other news, ever since Nico revealed his crush on Percy in Rick Riordan's version of _the House of Hades, _I've been a Percy/Nico supporter, as well as a Percy/Annabeth supporter, so this means I support Percy/Annabeth/Nico, and yes this is a three-way pairing, and I hope those guys get together in canon.**

**And speaking of Percy/Nico, I've made a music video dedicated to them, the link can be found on my profile.)**

As he ran through the darkness, Percy could see a figure up ahead. When he got closer, he could see that she had a wrinkly green jacket over torn jeans. Her wild brown hair had grey streaks in them, her brown eyes (which had bags underneath them) which were once so full of life were now dull, and there was dried blood on her face and clothes.

His eyes widened as he realised who it was. "Mum!"

She gazed at him with her dull eyes, and Percy felt like she was seeing through him; as if he was being x-rayed.

"Percy…is that you?...Is it _really_ you?"

"It's me," Percy said. "I swear on Styx it's me! What are you doing here, Mum? What happened to you?"

"They tortured me," she said softly. "Gaea dragged me here to be tortured…"

Sally's voice trailed off, and tears formed in her eyes. She wiped them away with her hand, but more kept coming. As she cried, the story came out.

After Percy was reported missing, she became worried. All kinds of horrible thoughts came into her mind about what might've happened to him, and those feelings made it hard for her to live her day to day life, she had trouble concentrating and sleeping. The lack of sleep made her tired all the time and more irritable, so she had to compensate by drinking a lot of coffee. But that didn't really help, the caffeine made her more restless. She found it harder to concentrate at work, her anxiety about Percy grew, and sometimes the coffee gave her nausea. Her worries over Percy made Sally lose her motivation to do stuff; she was bullshitting her way through work, she started to live on pizza and microwavable TV dinners, and she became withdrawn, as she found it harder to interact with people.

Luckily, Paul was understanding of the situation. He tried his best to keep her optimistic, but she could tell that as time went on, his hope waned too. And if that wasn't bad enough, she started to receive vivid nightmares that involved getting her own skin peeled off with a potato peeler, her arms rotting and falling off, having her tongue cut off with scissors, being beaten into a bloody pulp with a baseball bat, right to the point where every single bone in her body was broken, having her fingers and toes chewed off by a swarm of wetas, and having her eyes gouged out with a spork.

She would wake up screaming, and when she tried to fall asleep again, she'd hear footsteps across the hall, getting closer and closer until she could hear the doorknob turning, and then the bedroom door would fling open.

Normally that would be it, but these events started to escalate. After the door was flung open, there would be growling sounds in the bedroom, which would wake Paul as well.

It got worse. They soon received scratches and bruises from the invisible entity that invaded their home, and said entity would often speak to them. It urged Paul to leave, telling him that he was just a regular mortal who didn't need to be involved, but Paul ignored it, insisting that he wouldn't abandon Sally. The invisible entity then became violent. It started to punch and kick them around.

One night, the entity took on physical form, as a corpse version of Percy, with maggots and beetles crawling in his decaying flesh, eyeballs popping out of his sockets, his tongue hanging out, his fingernails chipped and falling off, and his clothes all torn up. Corpse Percy warned Paul, telling him it was his last chance to escape, for he only wanted Sally. Once again, Paul refused to back out, angering Corpse Percy. In response, he lashed out at Paul, who tried to fight back, but he was out-matched. Corpse Percy was beating him up when he told Sally to run, while he held him off.

After she bolted out the door, she could hear all sorts of sounds coming from their flat, but she ignored them, as she ran down the hall. She got into the elevator, which took her into the parking lot, where she got into her car and drove off.

She headed for Montauk beach, where she called out to Poseidon for help, but she got no response. She cried out in despair, and at that moment, the sand beneath her feet started to stir, and before she could get away, the sand began to pull her down. She knew this was not normal sand, and then, like a kick to the stomach, it hit her. She realised who was behind this.

"…And then Gaea spoke to me," Sally remembered. "I still remember every word she said."

Sally's mind recalled that terrible night at Montauk beach, where she struggled helplessly as the sand grabbed on to her body, and dragged her down as if it had fingers. While she fought against the sand, an ancient voice called out to her.

"Normally I just ignore mortals, but this time I'll make an exception. You see, I need you in order to get Percy. When I capture him, I want him to break down, I want him to cry. Tartarus should do the job, but it still won't be good enough for me. Before I sacrifice him and another demigod (hopefully it's Annabeth) to revive me, I want to torture him, I want to break him. And in order to get him into that mental state, I'm going to use you. Oh, and by the way, don't ask Poseidon for help, he doesn't care at all about you."

"….So that's how I ended up here," Sally said. "They tortured me, exactly the way I dreamt it…it was horrible, I just wanted to die. But they wouldn't let me, in order to keep torturing me as long as they could, I was fed fire from the Phlegethon river at the end of they day, so my injuries would heal. And then, the pain would start all over again."

Percy gritted his teeth, and he clenched his fists. As his anger grew, his clench became tighter and tighter, right to the point where his nails were digging painfully into his palms.

"That bitch!" he shouted. "That goat fucking, shit eating bitch! I'll fucking put her to sleep!...Permanently! And I'll fucking kill those giants! I'll make them wish they were never born!"

"That's big talk for such a puny hero," a voice said. Percy glanced around, but he couldn't see anyone around him, and his ears couldn't pinpoint where the voice was coming from either.

Sensing his confusion, the voice continued to talk. "You're in Tartarus, and yet you have the audacity to boast like that. You demigods have been killing us for centuries, and you're letting it all go to your head, always thinking that you're unbeatable and better than everyone else. You need to be taught a lesson in humility. "

All of a sudden, something (or was it someone?) appeared behind Sally. He was tall and muscular, with white fur all over his body, a bull's head, long curved horns, and although he was standing on two legs like a human, he had hooves rather than feet. This guy was also carrying a spiked club, and he was wearing white underwear with a Fruit of the Loom label.

Sally turned around. "You!"

"I killed you!" Percy said. "Twice!"

"Hmph," the Minotaur snarled. "Kill me thrice and I'll give you a gold star! Now you'll see what Gaea meant when said she'd use your mother to break you!"

He raised his club, and Percy had been in enough fights to know what was about to happen next. He tried to move his arm to draw Riptide, but he couldn't. His body was paralyzed. He could feel sweat running down his face, as he watched the Minotaur slam the spiked club into Sally's eyes, forehead and nose. The spikes sank into her skin, causing blood to pour out. Sally cried out in pain.

"STOP IT!" yelled Percy. He was surprised to find out that he could still speak. His mouth still worked, and he tried to move his arms and legs again, but he couldn't. "LEAVE MY MUM OUT OF THIS!"

The Minotaur ignored him. He pulled the club out, and Percy could see the damage it had done. There were holes poked in the pupils and irises of her eyes, nose and forehead, with blood flowing out of the wounds, and down to her cheeks.

His jaw dropped open. He was speechless, as the Minotaur raised his club again, and hit Sally in the face with it. This time, he forced the spiked club into her mouth. She winced as she felt the pain when the spikes penetrated her tongue and the roof of her mouth. The Minotaur shoved the club deeper into her mouth, until her jaw couldn't open up any wider to accommodate the club. Ignoring her muffled screams, the Minotaur shoved the club deeper and deeper, until he heard a distinct crack.

The Minotaur then pulled the club out, ripping off her tongue, a few chunks of skin, and letting the blood rush out. Percy could see that her jaw was broken; it was hanging open, with blood trickling out of her mouth, and dripping onto the ground.

He wanted to run to her side, and beat the shit out of the Minotaur for hurting her, but he simply couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried.

_Tartarus! _He thought. _This must be the effect of Tartarus! There's no other explanation for this! I don't; I never freeze with fear! _

The Minotaur put his hand into her mouth, and he ripped her lower jaw off. Blood gushed out, and with a smirk, the Minotaur threw the jaw at Percy, whose eyes widened with shock.

"Don't worry" the Minotaur said, clearly enjoying Percy's misery. "There's more, much more to come."

He raised his club again, and he swung it right into her neck. Sally could feel the pain once again as the spikes dug into her neck. But now her privilege of screaming was denied, due to her tongue getting ripped off, so she was forced to endure in silence. A few seconds later, the Minotaur pulled the club out, and Sally bled like crazy. The blood streamed down her jacket, staining it red permanently. But it did not stop there, the blood got to her jeans, and eventually onto the floor. A few seconds later, she fell to the ground.

"NO!" Percy shouted. "NO! NO! NOOOOO!"

The Minotaur threw his head back and laughed.

"YOU BASTARD!" Percy screamed. "YOU KILLED MY MUM! I'LL FUCKING RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!"

"Do it then," the Minotaur challenged. "Go on, I dare you. Take out your pretty little sword and kill me."

Percy gave him a death glare; it was all he could do at the moment.

"Oh right, I forgot" the Minotaur said, with a grin. "You're still paralyzed, and you can't do anything except watch, like a useless sack of pota‒no wait, that's an insult to potatoes. But you get the point, right?"

He placed his spiked club onto the floor, knelt down, and leaned his face a few inches away from her stomach. He opened his mouth, revealing his T-Rex-like fangs, and he bit into her body, tearing through her clothes and skin. Neither Percy nor the Minotaur knew this, but Sally was still conscious, and she could feel everything as the Minotaur's teeth bit through her flesh. Blood flowed out of her body, and onto the ground, forming a small pool.

With his fangs, the Minotaur grabbed onto her intestines, and he started to slurp them, like they were spaghetti, ignoring the fact that they were filled with half digested food and feces.

Percy's jaw dropped, and his vision was getting blurry, tears were forming in his eyes. He couldn't see exactly which organ Minotaur was eating, but he could hear the chomping, as the Minotaur bit into Sally. The tears ran down his face, as the Minotaur continued to tear through her body with his teeth, eating various organs, and letting her blood spill onto the Tartarus ground. Sally's body changed from just bloody to unrecognizable, with her intestines, stomach, and a bunch of other organs that Percy didn't recognize hanging out, and she was laying in a pool of her own blood.

"NO!" Percy cried. "NOOOOOO!"

His eyes opened, and Percy could feel something wet on his face.

_Oh…I was crying…must've been crying in real life as I cried in my dream…._

He sat up, and he looked at the alarm on the nightstand. _Ugh….it's 4 am…._

He lied back down, and closed his eyes, but he didn't want to go back to sleep. He didn't want the dream to come back. Normally, once he woke up and went back to sleep, he wouldn't get the same dream, but ever since his experience in Tartarus, he'd been having recurring nightmares of the place, and in his dreams, he'd see his mum being tortured, himself being tortured, Annabeth being tortured, or a combination of the three.

_And they never go away…._Percy thought. _No matter how hard I try to forget them…they'll always be stuck in my head; I just can't unsee them, even though it's been three years since then. _

He sighed. _I need a fucking drink, _he decided.

Percy got up from his bed, and he made his way into the kitchen, ignoring the mess in his small, rented flat. There was dust, crumbs, beer cans, take-out boxes, empty plastic ramen bowls, and napkins all over the floor. Dirty clothes stacked up on some of the chairs, and garbage piled up in the wastebasket. And it wasn't just his flat that was a mess; he was a mess too, on the inside and out. Percy had been wearing and sleeping in the same jeans and orange T-shirt for god knows how long.

He opened the fridge. Aside from a nearly empty bag of cheese flavoured Goldfish crackers, there wasn't any food in the fridge; just a six-pack of beer, and a bottle of vodka.

_Looks like I'll have to get more soon, _he thought, as he took out the vodka, and closed the fridge door. _Better get my fake ID ready. _

He grabbed a glass that was on the counter poured the vodka into it, and he started to drink, trying to forget all the stuff that happened to him, from losing Sally, to going through Tartarus, to being forced to let Annabeth go, to losing Frank, Hazel, and Leo, to being betrayed by his own father.….

* * *

Percy stared at the calm, blue water as it hit the sand of the Camp beach in waves. For a moment, he felt better but he knew that when he left the beach, the bitter memories of his quest and Tartarus would come back, and he'd be miserable again.

He cleared his mind, and then he closed his eyes in a prayer to Poseidon. _Dad, I need to talk to you in person. It's important, I think you'll want to hear this…it's about Mum…_

He opened his eyes, and he could see ripples forming across the water, as if someone had thrown a stone into it. Seconds later, he saw a man (who looked like an older and angrier version of him) rising from the water, and then walking towards him.

"What do you want?" he asked. "And make it quick, will you? I'm busy, and I don't have time for this_._"

"Hey, Dad it's been a while," Percy said. "So…we've managed to unite the two camps and put Gaea back to sleep, but…."

"Yes?" Poseidon asked. "I don't have all day you know."

"Mum…Mum's dead," Percy said. "I saw her in Tartarus, and….the Minotaur…it killed her."

Before Poseidon could say anything else, Percy told him the story of how he and Annabeth fell into Tartarus, how he met his mum while he was there, and how all he could do was watch as the Minotaur clubbed, and then ate her.

"…I just thought you should know," Percy said.

"Huh…" Poseidon responded. "Is that all? Geez, I thought it was something _really _important. Well, I gotta get back to….you know, work. See ya."

_Huh? _Percy thought. _That's his reaction? I tell him Mum's dead, and he's…._

"Don't you care?" Percy asked. _I thought you would, otherwise I wouldn't be here, telling you about it! _

"What do mean 'don't I care?' " Poseidon asked.

"Mum's dead, and you're acting like nothing happened!" Percy responded, feeling anger swell inside him.

"What do you want me to say?" Poseidon replied in a hard voice. "How do you want me to react?"

"Maybe you should act like you actually give a shit!" Percy said. "Instead of being so goddamn apathetic about it!"

Poseidon narrowed his eyes. For a moment, it seemed like he was going to hit Percy, but then he sighed and closed his eyes. A second later, he opened them.

"Percy, this is going to be hard for you to hear, but…look Percy, I have to tell you something…I've been hiding it for a while...I guess I can't hide it forever…"

"What it is?"

Poseidon sighed again. "I can't lie to you forever, Percy. The truth has to come out some time, and it might as well be now. The things is…I don't care about Sally Jackson…or you for that matter."

Percy's eyes grew wide in shock. His mind became blank for a second; this was one of those rare times he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Oh, don't give me that look," Poseidon said. "Sally was just another mortal; she was just another one night stand, and I've had a _lot _of one night stands over the years….the point is, there's nothing special about her. She wasn't a friend, we weren't even that close! She wasn't a family member either, so why would I care what happens to her?"

"You're….you're joking right?" Percy replied. "This has got to be a joke of some kind!"

"But I'm just being truthful," Poseidon said. "I never cared for either one of you. Sorry, but that's just the way it is."

"Goddamn it!" Percy yelled. "Stop acting like this! This isn't you!"

_You've never acted like this before, _he thought. _You're definitely not yourself today. You're like a completely different person….and it feels so….weird. I mean, I haven't seen or spoken to you ever since I defeated Kronos, and now you're just being so goddamn rude…_

"I'm just showing my true colours, Percy" Poseidon said. "I'm tired of pretending to _actually _care for you and Sally."

"What?!"

"I'll say this again, Percy" Poseidon repeated. "I don't care about you or your mum. If you died in a fire or something like that, I wouldn't mourn either one of your deaths."

"Dad…you're seriously acting really weird," Percy said. "Are you…"

He was reminded of the time Annabeth told him about the time she met Athena at the train station, except it wasn't Athena; it was Minerva.

"Are you Neptune?"

Ever since the two camps allied with each other to defeat Gaea and the Athena Parthenos was returned, the gods were able to go from Greek to Roman (and vice versa) without getting headaches.

"No, I'm Poseidon" his dad answered.

There was a pause before Percy started talking again. "So what you're basically saying is that you _never _cared for me or my mum? But what about when you said that my mum was a queen amongst mortals? And what about that time at my birthday when you said that I was your favourite son?"

Poseidon laughed. "Oh man, you actually believed that? You seriously...oh wow…I…"

His voice trailed off as he continued to laugh. Percy glared at him, he gritted his teeth and he clenched his fists while his father laughed at his cruel joke.

"I lied," Poseidon said matter-of-factly. "I only said that to you because I thought you were the hero of the Great Prophecy. I wanted you to remain loyal to me, so you'd focus on saving Olympus. If I put on my usual apathetic demeanour towards you, you might've thought that I didn't care about you like Luke did with Hermes, you might've even joined him, and of course, I couldn't have that."

"No…no way!" Percy said. "You…you can't be serious!"

"Oh, I am" Poseidon responded. "I'm telling the truth, I swear on Styx I'm not making any of this up."

At that moment, a gust of wind blew across the beach, causing the fringes of Percy's hair to be blown across his face and in front of his eyes, hiding them from Poseidon.

"You know," he began. "Back in Tartarus, before she died, Mum told me that she drove to Montauk, and she called out to you for help…but nothing happened. Up until now, I thought you were too busy dealing with your Roman aspect, but now I don't think that was it. You were deliberately ignoring her…weren't you?"

"Yes, I was" Poseidon answered.

"You could've saved her?!" Percy yelled. "And you didn't?...Fuck you!... Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!...I can't fucking believe this! My mum…she thought you loved her!"

"She's nothing next to Amphitrite," Poseidon said. "And you know what? Compared to Triton, you're nothing but an accident."

Percy didn't reply to that, he simply reached into his pocket, and he took out Riptide. But before he could uncap it, Poseidon slapped the pen out of his hand, making it drop into the water. He then kicked his own son in the ribs. Percy flew through the air, and he landed on the sand.

"I'm a god of Olympus, you might want to show a bit more respect towards me," Poseidon said. "Or else you'll end up dead, like your mum. Now then, I'm going to leave. Goodbye Percy, you're no son of mine. This is the last time we'll ever speak to each other."

The sea god then turned around, so that his back was facing Percy. He extended his arm, and a trident appeared in his hand. A second later, a huge wave formed, and it washed over him. When the wave crashed onto the beach, Poseidon was gone, leaving Percy with nothing but more pain.

Percy stayed on the beach for a while, staring at the ocean, which had a calming effect on him; it was able to take away his anger and sadness, but he eventually made his way back to his cabin. There, his feelings returned, and he let his anger out by throwing stuff around. When there was nothing left to throw, he went to the Hermes cabin, to buy some beer from Travis and Connor, who were able to smuggle them into camp. When he finished the can of beer, he got some more. He lost track of how many he had, but he eventually got to sleep.

In the morning, he woke up to a knock on the door. Without waiting for an answer, the door opened, and Chiron walked into the cabin, with a grim expression on his face.

"Percy, I received an Iris message last night," he said. "It was from Poseidon, he told me to remove you from the Camp."

"What?!"

"I'm _so _sorry," Chiron said. "But last night, I was at the Big House, having some Diet Coke with Mr. D, when I got the IM from him. I asked him why, and he said it was an order from Olympus."

"I see…"

"Percy, what happened?"

"Nothing special," Percy answered coolly. "I just had a recent conversation with my dad, and…."

He told Chiron about what Poseidon told him, and as he talked the grim expression on Chiron's face did not fade. When he was finished, there was a long pause before Chiron spoke.

"I…I'm sorry to hear that Percy," he said, sounding like he meant it. "I know what it's like when your own dad hates you."

There was another pause.

"You're kicking me out?" Percy asked.

Chiron looked uncomfortable. "Well….your dad insisted on having me remove you. I told him that I couldn't, this is the only safe place for demigods, and if you leave, you'd be attacked by all sorts of monsters, and it would only get worse, since you're a child of the Big Three. But…he just wanted you gone."

"So you're really kicking me out," Percy said.

Chiron sighed. "Don't get me wrong, Percy. I _really _don't want to do this. But−

"As a servant of the gods, you have to do what they say," Percy interrupted. "Your own feelings don't matter, it is your duty that counts, right Chiron?"

The centaur nodded sadly. Percy wasn't surprised, ignoring your own feelings and doing your duty was a very important lesson taught at camp. It was something that was hammered into newbie demigods over and over again. An ideal hero was one who would fight and die for the greater good. On a quest, he or she would _always_ put the mission first; he or she must do _whatever_ it takes to ensure that it's a success. Feelings didn't matter, they must be controlled, sometimes hidden away, so that it wouldn't jeopardise the quest. Under pressure, the ideal hero must not give in to his feelings, he or she must listen to reason, which would tell him or her to succeed at any cost, trivial things like emotions must be ignored, for they would only hold him or her back.

Percy knew that part very well. It was what Annabeth told him during their last moments in Tartarus, when he was forced to leave her behind, in order to save the world. Of course, he didn't want to, but it _had _to be done. Annabeth even insisted that he forget about her, and focus on the mission.

"Just give me a minute to pack," Percy said. "And then I'll be gone."

"Percy…I'm _really _sorry…I…I just don't know how to say it," Chiron said. "But I'm just so sorry…Poseidon−

"Is one of the most powerful Olympians, and even if you managed to ignore your duty and refuse his order, he'd get angry and kick your arse," Percy finished for him. "I get it, Chiron. I'm not mad at you."

"You're not?"

"No, I'm mad at my dad."

There was another pause.

"I won't take too long," Percy said. "I'll be out of here in a second."

"Oh…alright," Chiron said. "I'll be outside…and Percy?"

"Yeah?"

Chiron looked uncomfortable again. "Your dad ordered me to have all the other kids watch as you leave Camp, and he ordered me to tell you to not bother with Camp Jupiter, he gave orders to them to not take you."

"Oh….I see…" Percy responded, feeling his heart sink.

"And one more thing," Chiron said. "Good luck out there."

"Thanks, I'll need it."

Chiron then left the cabin, and Percy angrily stuffed his belongings into a duffel bag. About fifteen minutes later, he left the cabin, and he ignored the stares and whispers of the other demigods, as he made his way to the eastern borders. It was the most humiliating thing ever, as everyone had their eyes on him, but Percy made sure that his face was as emotionless as possible, for he was too proud to let anyone know about the despair stirring inside him.

* * *

Percy poured himself another glass, and he started to drink. After that day, he lived on his own. No one tried to help him, and monsters did attack, but he always managed to kill them. Sometimes, he would get injured, but he'd heal them by soaking his wounds with water.

He collected his mum's life insurance, and he rented a flat. He spent the rest on booze, which he could buy easily, now that he had a fake ID. Occasionally, a monster would seek him out, and after the attack, he'd be forced to move out. For three years, he moved so many times he list count, but no matter where he went his daily routine was the same. When he got up, the first thing he would do was have a drink, and he spent the rest of the day drinking. At night, he'd go to a hostess club, nightclub, or pub, to drink some more.

But no matter how much he drank, he would never forget the horrible memories. They always haunted him, preventing him from moving on with his life.

Percy finished his glass, and this time, he started to drink directly from the bottle. He walked back to his room, he lied down on the bed, and he drank. When he downed the entire bottle, he placed it on his nightstand, and he closed his eyes.

All of a sudden, his wardrobe door burst open. Startled by the sound, Percy opened his eyes, and saw a figure in a black theatrical robe and a pig mask with long black hair. Before he could react, the figure whipped out a plastic syringe that had clear water-like liquid inside it, and he injected Percy in the neck with it.

**That's all for chapter 1! Don't forget to review, favourite, or follow. And I hope all you readers have a merry Christmas! **


	2. Chapter 2: Uncherished Lives

**(Author's Note: Guys, I'm **_**really**_** sorry about how late this is. I originally intended to upload this a week and a few days after I released the first chapter, but real life got in the way, and I was forced to put it off, until I realised that I could put it off forever, so I dragged myself aside and I made myself write a bit every day, so I was able to finish this. Hopefully this new plan sticks. Enjoy chapter 2.) **

Percy opened his eyes. For a moment, all he felt was a piercing sort of pain in his back, as if he was being stabbed by a thousand knitting needles, all at once. He winced from the pain, wishing it would stop, but it did not.

_What the…?_ _What's going on? Where am I? _

He forced his brain to stop thinking about the pain, and he realised he was lying on a metal four poster bed, with his arms outstretched, as if he was being crucified. There were shackles around his wrists and ankles, which were welded to the metal bed. He looked up, and instead of seeing the canopy of the bed, he saw a large, flat metal board, with spikes pointed at him.

_What the fuck?_

Percy glanced around the room, and he could see two levers with spikes on the handles placed an inch away from his shackled hands. There were strings of dim incandescent bulbs lined up along the sides of walls like Christmas lights. Despite the mediocre lighting, he could make out a wooden door, and Percy could also see an old TV set, with a heavy monitor placed on an old metal stand beside the bed.

_What is all this? How did I even get here? Why am I here? _

And then, as if it could read his mind, the TV turned itself on. Percy saw a dummy dressed in a black jacket over a white shirt, with a red bowtie, with slick black hair, red eyes, red lips that curled up in a creepy smile, and red spirals painted on his bone white cheeks appear on the screen.

"Hello Percy Jackson," the dummy said. "You've probably just woken up, and are wondering why you're here as well as what's going on. The answer for that is simple. I want to play a game."

The dummy paused for one second, before continuing. "You, like everyone else on this planet have been given the most precious gift: life. But instead of cherishing it, you waste it. You've been living a meaningless, wasteful life; unappreciative of the things you've been given. You've spent all your waking hours drinking, drunk, or with a hangover. For further proof of it, look at these clips."

Percy tried to do what the dummy instructed, but it wasn't that simple. He could still feel the pain in his back, but he forced himself to pay attention to the TV to take his mind off it (and he was getting a hunch that the TV contained a clue to help him out). Despite his best efforts, there were brief moments when the pain would take over, and he'd lose track of what the dummy was saying.

The screen then cut to a scene at a nightclub, where Percy was drinking a White Russian, when a sexy east Asian girl wearing a black halter minidress came up to him and whispered something in his ear, before grabbing him by the wrist and leading him to the dance floor, where she started grinding on him. A minute later, they left and headed for the washroom.

_I remember that, _Percy thought. _She blew me afterwards…._

There was another cut, and the scene switched to a bar, where Percy was sitting at counter, with more than a dozen empty glasses around him. The sexy turquoise haired bartender was talking to him, and judging by her body language, she was flirting, although Percy was too focused with drinking a Stella Artois. When he was finished, he ordered another one, and when he was finished with that, he ordered another, and the pattern continued. The screen then panned away from Percy, and to a clock on the wall, which read 3:37.

Another cut happened, and this time, it was a scene at a pub, where Percy raised his fist, and punched a middle-aged man in the jaw. The man fell to the floor, and before he could get up, Percy grabbed a chair, and he started to smack him with it. The man cupped his hands around his head, trying to protect himself, but Percy kept on hitting him.

Once again, there was another cut and a scene of Percy in his flat started to play. In the clip, Percy opened his eyes, and he placed his hand on his forehead, as if he was getting a headache, before glancing around the room and seeing vomit on his clothing and bedsheets. A about half a minute later, he dashed into the bathroom.

"See what I mean?" the dummy said, when the clip was over. "You've reached a point where your drinking clearly has a negative effect on you and the people around you. But instead of quitting, you continue to drink. It's taking over your life, and yet you still putting drinking above everything else."

There was another short pause before the dummy went on. "You drink as a way to cope with your troubles, you want to forget everything that's happened to you, it's your way of escaping from the reality that surrounds you. But it's doing more harm than good; you're on the path to destroying your life. Society would label you as an alcoholic, I say you're unworthy of the body you've been given."

The dummy stopped talking again, and Percy's eye's widened. _No way...How could he know all this? Where'd he get these clips? _

"Today I offer you a chance to redeem yourself," the dummy said began. "Right now, you're shackled to a metal bed with spikes poking into your back. Connected to the posts of are four timers which will trigger the spikes above you into being lowered onto the bed, causing them to be impaled into your body. The only way to stop this is to pull the levers beside your hands at the same time. Of course, if you do that, the spikes will pierce both of your hands. If you decide to pull the lever, do it quickly, you only have thirty seconds. Which choice will you make? Pain in exchange for discarding the vices that have so corrupted your soul or death as a result of letting your inner demons consume you? How much blood will you shed to stay alive? Let the game begin."

The TV turned itself off, and Percy could hear a ticking sound.

_Oh no! The timers!_

He looked up, and he saw the spikes getting closer and closer. Even though he lost concentration a few times while he was watching the tape, he got the basic gist of the dummy's instructions: pull the levers to stop yourself from becoming a human pincushion. He then glanced sideways at the lever by his right hand, and a second later, he turned his head to look at the one on his left. It was clear that he wouldn't have to reach very far to pull them; in fact, he could easily get both of them at once.

_But the spikes! _He thought. _They're gonna….and it'll hurt…._

Even with Riptide in his pocket, Percy could feel his heart beating faster, his breathing became sharp, and he could feel beads of sweat running down his face. In addition the pain, panic formed inside him, along with fear. Memories of his quest to stop Gaea flashed into his mind, in a series of images, from being tortured in Tartarus, to watching Annabeth get tortured while he was powerless to stop it, to watching Gaea's avatar rise, to being forced to watch as Leo died.

_No…._he thought, cringing in agony.

"No! No! No! NO! NO! NO!"

_It's that feeling again! _he thought. _It's back….that feeling of helplessness, of not knowing what's gonna happen next, or whether or your next moments will be your last…It's happening again! And…even though it's been three years, I can remember everything so clearly….why?...Why? _

"Why?" he asked out loud.

_First it's that war with Gaea, and now this….why do I always have to be caught up in the action? Why can't there just be one day where my life is just…normal? _

"WHY?!" he repeated. _Why does everything in my life have to turn out horribly? Am I fucking cursed or something? Why must I always be the chew toy for the universe?..._

_This….This…._

"THIS FUCKING SUCKS!" Percy screamed out loud, as his resentment turned to anger. He glared at the TV screen, even though it was turned off. "HOW COULD YOU FUCKING DO THIS TO ME?! I DON'T DESERVE ANY OF THIS SHIT!...YOU FUCKING BASTARD! WHEN I GET OUT OF THIS THING, I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Of course, there was no response aside from the ticking, and his own heavy breathing.

_Calm…calm down! _Percy told himself. _You can't beat this if you let your emotions take over…besides, you need to beat this trap first if you're gonna kick his arse…._

He made himself glance up again, and of course he didn't know this, but the timer had just reached twenty-three, since it continued to count down while his past emotional trauma reared its ugly head. But he saw that the spikes were even closer this, his mind back to normal.

"Shit!" he said. "Shit! Shit! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!"

In an instant, he made the decision to pull the levers. After all, pain was better than death.

As the spikes descended and as the ticking continued, Percy took another look at the two levers before mentally bracing himself for the spikes to go through his hands. But even with that, his palms started sweating. A second later, just as the timer hit nineteen, Percy reached out, and his fingers closed around the handles. His face contorted with pain as the spikes stabbed him. They burrowed their way through his flesh, going deeper and deeper, from his palms to the back, right to the point where they were sticking out from the backside of his hand. Blood oozed out of his wounds, with the ones on his palms mixing together with the sweat, while spikes were covered with blood, especially at the tips.

But that wasn't the only pain Percy had to deal with, he was still lying on a bed of spikes, which were already stuck in his back.

"AAAAUUUUGH!" he cried, as the timer got to fifteen. Percy was very tempted to remove his hands to stop the pain, which was making him lose the ability to think coherently, like a human being. He momentarily forgot about his goal of survival, and all he wanted was to make the pain go away. But when he spotted the spikes above him getting closer and closer, he was reminded of what he must do.

"AAAAAGGGHHH! AAAAAARRGGHHH! AAAAAAAHHH! " he screamed, as he forced himself to pull both of them levers, even though moving his hands made him feel more pain. But as he pulled on them, he could see that the dummy had been telling the truth. The spikes were pulling away, going in the opposite direction.

The timer reached twelve, and Percy's screams of 'AAAAARRGHHH!' filled the room. Dealing with a great deal of pain in two different areas of his body was extremely tough. There were times when his grip would slip, and the spikes would start to lower again, but a second later, Percy's grip would tighten again, and they'd start to ascend.

Even with the pain, Percy was determined to make it out alive, his grip around the handles got tighter than ever, and he pulled on the levers harder than ever.

"AAAAAAAHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAHHH! AAAAAAAAAA! AAAAAAAAAAGGGHH!" He screamed, as he pulled through the worst ten seconds of his life, although it felt like forever to him. He would have done _anything _to make it go away. Words could not describe the worst pain he ever felt as the spikes went up the bedposts, and they reached the top, just a few seconds before the timer went off with a ding.

When the ticking ended, they stayed up there, and at the same time, the shackles around his wrists snapped open.

Percy let go of the handle, and his hands throbbed with pain as he pulled away. He made himself sit up, pulling his body away from the bed of spikes. As soon as the spikes were no longer inside him, blood started to flow out of his wounds, and Percy could sense his strength leaving him.

He brought his hands close to his face, and he could see that they were full of holes, like Swiss cheese, except Swiss cheese didn't bleed. Of course, Percy didn't know this, but his back was in the same state as his hands, full of holes with blood flowing out of them.

Percy placed his hands over his eyes, and he broke down into tears after making it out of this terrible ordeal. The tears from his eyes mixed with the blood from his hands as it streamed down his face.

He spent over thirteen minutes crying, and he was still doing so when he heard a clicking sound. He let his hands fall, and a figure in a black theatrical robe with a matching black cane walked in.

"Congratulations," he said. "You pass. Now you'll stop yourself from life your life so wastefully, now you'll be a bit more appreciative of the life that so many people take for granted. Those people are so unappreciative of their blessings, but you're not like that. Not anymore."

"You!" Percy cried. "You fucking did this to me!"

He stood up, and he tried to make his way towards the figure, but instead of taking a step forward, he staggered for a second before collapsing onto the floor.

* * *

Everything had gone black, but Percy could still hear beeping. The pain was gone, and he could hear three separate voices, but he couldn't make out their exact words. He could also feel something on his face, which was an oxygen mask. Eventually, the voices faded out, but a while later on, Percy would hear them again, and then they'd fade out again. The pattern continued, and Percy soon lost track of how many times it happened.

* * *

His eyes opened, and Percy saw that he was no longer in that dim room with the trap bed and the old fashioned TV. He was now in a windowless room, with wooden creates lined up against the wall he was facing, a wooden table and three steel chairs and a steel door a couple of feet away.

_Where am I? _he wondered.

The oxygen mask had been removed, but beeping was still there, and Percy saw that he was hooked up to a heart monitor. He noticed that he had a light blue hospital gown on, and that his hands were bandaged.

_This can't be a hospital…_he thought. _The atmosphere…it's…._

Just then, the steel door opened, and someone in a theatrical black robe and a cane walked in. He glanced at Percy's direction.

"I see that you're awake," he said. "It's about time."

"You!" Percy shouted, thinking of the same guy that came into the room after he had 'escaped' the metal bed trap.

The figure lowered his hood. Percy could see he looked like he was in his mid to late twenties with blond hair and icy blue eyes that reminded him of Luke for some strange reason.

"I'm Dr. Lawrence Gordon," he said. "Although the name Jigsaw might ring a bell."

Percy was silent for a few seconds, and then his eyes widened as he remembered watching the news a few weeks after he defeated Kronos. It was still August, school didn't even start yet, he had nothing to do that day, no quests to complete, no monsters to kill, he was free to do whatever he wanted, without having to worry about saving the world. He had been sitting on the couch channel surfing when a news report about two guys waking up in a glass display (in front of a large crowd) to find themselves stuck in a trap caught his eyes. The anchorwoman had said that they were shackled to circular saws that faced opposite of each other, while a girl was suspended from the ceiling, and both of the guys had to push the saws toward the other, or else the girl would be lowered onto a saw that was sticking out from the ground. Or they could just let her die. They chose the latter. At the end of the report, the anchorwoman commented the trap had to be the work of someone named the Jigsaw killer. That had been the first and last time Percy heard that name, until now.

"Oh my gods…." Percy said. "You're… _him_….you're the Jigsaw killer!"

"No," corrected Lawrence. "I've never killed anyone. I simply test them. Those who died from my traps brought it on themselves. They didn't appreciate their lives, so I have to teach them to do so, but it only works of they possess the will to survive. I'm glad you possessed that will."

"You…you fucking psycho! You nearly killed me!" Percy said. "Not to mention torturing me!"

"You misunderstand me," Lawrence answered. "I never intended to harm you; I only wanted to help you, to teach you a lesson, just like everyone else. I did what I had to do to help you stop your bad habits. My methods are much more effective than the usual twelve step method. I swear on Styx I wouldn't lie to you. The thing is….I want my victims to survive, so they can start to cherish their lives and live them to the fullest, but if their will isn't strong enough, they won't be able to do so, they'll just die, which fits them perfectly since they aren't worthy of living. Remember this. Those who don't appreciate life do not deserve life…besides if I wanted to kill you, I would've left you there, and you would've bled out, I wouldn't be nursing you back to health right now. "

_Ok, he's got a point there, _Percy thought. Hearing Lawrence's words about appreciating your life reminded Percy of the dummy who told him that he had been wasting his life.

"So that's why you captured me?" he asked the doctor. "Because I was drinking?...But…that wasn't my fault! I mean, I didn't choose to turn out that way! It was…it was…."

His voice trailed off. He wanted to say it was Gaea, Tartarus, and the rest of the gods and monsters, but he didn't want Lawrence to think he was batshit insane, so he kept his mouth shut, even though he really wanted to shout it at the top of his lungs, to get it off his chest.

"It was the gods," Lawrence said, as if he could read Percy's mind. "

"Whoa…."

Percy's eyes widened in shock. "How do you know about them? Are you a…demigod?"

"No," Lawrence answered. "I'm just a clear-sighted mortal. But I know about the gods, and I know everything about you, Perseus Jackson."

"What? How?"

"Simple," Lawrence responded. "I saw you at a pub, drinking like there was no tomorrow, I've seen alcoholics before, so I knew at once that you were one. I followed you home, and once you were asleep, I broke into your apartment, and I set up some hidden cameras to know more about you, which I must say wasn't that hard. You talk in your sleep."

"Yeah, I've told to do that," Percy said.

"But let's get back on topic," Lawrence said. "The gods are the reason you turned to alcohol. They're responsible for you trauma. They're at the root of all this. You were traumatised on your quest to save the world because of Gaea, who wanted to destroy the world because they were the guys on top, with all the power. Gaea wanted that power, so the gods made you and your friends defeat her. Same thing with Kronos. But once the job was done, they tossed you aside; they treated you like dog shit on the bottom of their shoes as soon as you were of no use to them. Look at your own dad! They only see you as a pawn to be used in their own schemes. Of course, it's not just you. They give the same treatment to all demigods."

Percy didn't want to admit it, but Lawrence had a good point. The gods were powerful, and because of that, they all tended to look down on others. They saw mortals as lesser beings, the same way mortals saw semi-intelligent animals, like chimps, and they treated them as such. Before Percy made them swear on Styx to claim all their children, before thirteen, the gods even ignored they own children, claiming them only when they needed a favour.

The funny here was that if Lawrence told him this three years ago, just after the war with Kronos ended, Percy would've disagreed immediately, he would've defended the gods, he would've argued that they were the 'good guys,' but after being disowned by his dad, he didn't really feel like vouching for them.

"My dad…he said he only pretended to care for me, so I wouldn't turn against him and join the Titans," Percy said, still feeling the hurt after three years. "After that, he told me he didn't give a shit."

"He showed his true colours, didn't he?" Lawrence said. "I can't say I'm surprised. The gods have no appreciation for their family, they only care for themselves. They'd happily watch the world burn, as long as it didn't affect them personally. You're not the only person they used. Think of the old myths, the list of people they screwed over is huge! There's Hercules, Pandora, Actaeon, Cassandra, Io, Arachne, Asclepius, Niobe, Medusa, Marsyas…I could go on, but then I'd be here all day! And they also screwed over immortals, if they could! Look at the cruel and usual punishment Prometheus got when he helped humanity! And then there's poor Calypso who's trapped on an island, even though she did _nothing _to deserve it! Let's not forget the Trojan War! So many people, especially Helen got screwed over all because of a goddamn beauty contest!"

_Wow…_Percy thought. _He's so much like Luke…except with him, I can't help but agree…huh…_

"The gods have been like this for thousands of years!" Lawrence said. "They think they can get away with anything because they're the strongest, and the sad thing is that they're right. As long as they're in a position of power, they'll keep messing around with mortals…those jerks!"

Lawrence could see that Percy was staring at him with those intense green eyes. His eyes looked tortured, but Lawrence knew that deep down inside, Percy agreed with him.

"I'm sorry to give you something like this to worry about while you're recovering," he said. "But please bear with me on this one. The gods don't realise how good they have it, being immortal and never having to worry about dying…but they spend all their time fucking around, instead of doing anything useful! They need to be taught a lesson for not appreciating their lives! I'd gladly test them myself, but I'm only human…I'll need a demigod on my side…you'll make a great apprentice. Of course, you don't have to help. If you don't want to, you can go home after you recover. If you do…well, I'll get to that one later."

Percy didn't reply. He may agree with Lawrence, but he felt uneasy about the guy who tortured him (even though he had good intentions) and he wasn't completely sure if torturing the gods by forcing them to mutilate themselves to escape death traps was really the right thing to do.

"You don't need to decide right away," Lawrence said, as if he could sense Percy's feelings. "Just…think about it."

**That's all for chapter 2! **


End file.
